Union Looks Into Options After NHL Rejects Ilya Kovalchuk Deal

The NHL Players Association said Wednesday that it was reviewing its options after the league rejected the New Jersey Devils' 17-year, $102 million contract with winger Ilya Kovalchuk.

"The NHLPA is currently analyzing the basis upon which the NHL rejected the contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk," union spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said. "We are evaluating the options available to us under the terms established in the (collective-bargaining agreement)."

Kovalchuk's contract was heavily front-loaded, paying him $11.5 million in each of years three through seven and $10.5 million in the eighth year. But it paid him $750,000 in the 12th season and $550,000 in each of the last five years. That allowed the annual total cap hit to fall to a more manageable $6 million.

Kovalchuk would be 44 at the end of the rejected contract.

"The contract has been rejected by the league as a circumvention of the collective bargaining agreement," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement posted on the NHL's website. "Under the CBA, the contract rejection triggers a number of possible next steps that may be elected by any or each of the NHLPA, the player and/or the club. In the interim, the player is not entitled to play under the contract, nor is he entitled to any of the rights and benefits that are provided for thereunder."